Photo Courtesy of Petty Officer 3rd Class Seth JohnosnU.S. Coast Guard Capt. Linda Fagan salutes during the ceremony in which she was sworn in as commander of Coast Guard Sector New York and Captain of of the Port of New York and New Jersey.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Capt. Linda Fagan's Coast Guard career has taken her to all seven continents.

For the next three years, Staten Island will be her home base.

The 47-year-old Boston native was sworn in as commander of Coast Guard Sector New York during a Change of Command ceremony held Thursday in the Music Hall of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Livingston.

Stationed at Fort Wadsworth, she becomes the first woman to command Sector New York -- the largest operation field command in the Coast Guard.

"I really look forward to living and working on Staten Island and getting to know the community here and exploring all the Island has to offer," she said.

Capt. Fagan relieved Capt. Robert R. O'Brien Jr., who had been at the Sector's helm since 2006. He retired from the Coast Guard after a career spanning more than 40 years.

As commander, Capt. Fagan oversees more than 1,000 active-duty personnel and 300 Reservists along a bustling waterway that stretches into northern New Jersey.

"It's a big area and there's a lot going on with barges, cruise ships and ferries," she said. "It's complex and challenging work."

Capt. Fagan said joining the Coast Guard was a natural fit for a girl who grew up in a sea-loving family.

She graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1985 and served for two years as a deck watch officer aboard the USCGC Polar Star, a heavy ice cutter out of Seattle. After trips to both the Arctic and Antarctic, she began her marine prevention career as an inspector trainee at Marine Safety Office Puget Sound.

Among other positions she held was chief of port operations in Savannah, where she planned waterside security for the Olympic sailors at the 1996 Summer Games. She was also the division chief of the Foreign and Offshore Compliance Office at USCG Headquarters, and executive officer of Marine Inspection Office/Activities Europe in the Netherlands.

She reports to Staten Island from Washington D.C., where she was the executive assistant to the commandant, Adm. Thad Allen. (Allen is now the government's point man for the response to the runaway BP oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.)

Capt. Fagan holds a bachelor of science degree in marine science from the Coast Guard Academy, a master's in marine affairs from the University of Washington, and a master's in national security strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.

Her husband, an elementary school librarian and former Coast Guard aviator, will remain in Washington with their two daughters, one heading off to college come fall and the other a rising high school junior.

She will reside in Coast Guard housing, a few steps from Fort Wadsworth.

"What a beautiful oasis," she said. "When I drove in for the first time, I was struck by the fort. It's a great place to live and work. Staten Island is great. I've liked everything I've seen. I am impressed by the green space and the parks."

Her quarters, she said, afford views of the waters she is sworn to protect.

"One of the things it's important for people to know is that we are working to protect and keep New Yorkers safe," she said.